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| Thread ID: 101801 | 2009-07-27 12:15:00 | Best Laptop under $2000 | Lizard (2409) | PC World Chat |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 795806 | 2009-07-27 12:15:00 | Hi all, In the market to buy a laptop/notebook, have a budget of $2000. It'll be primarily be used by the wife, as a portable for doing genealogy stuff, and for using the internet in the warm lounge rather than the cold computer room. She fancies Sony Vaio for the style and looks. When I can get my hands on it, I'd like to use it for some lightweight video and photo editing. Also, it might serve occasional duty playing some old FPS (HL2 being the most recent) head to head over our LAN. Some single-player FPS might get a look in like FEAR2, but I'm not expecting it to be able to run Crysis or Bio-Shock (that'll come when I can build my new computer in the future). There are three models I've located. The Sony Vaio FW43G, the Toshiba L500/00Y and the L550/01V The specs vary (different CPUs, GPUs, etc). Does anyone want to venture an opinion on whether these are worthy of consideration, or is there an alternative that anyone wants to suggest? Cheers Lizard |
Lizard (2409) | ||
| 795807 | 2009-07-27 12:30:00 | Have a look at these: justlaptops.net.nz justlaptops.net.nz justlaptops.net.nz justlaptops.net.nz This one is excellent value IMO: justlaptops.net.nz www.dse.co.nz Those Toshibas you've looked at are pretty fast, excellent graphics for a laptop. Things to keep in mind are: 1) CPU-get a dual core 2) RAM-Don't worry bout it, cheap and easy to upgrade 3) HDD-You can upgrade later for not much 4) GFX-Anything with 512mb discrete or more is good enough for a laptop Blam |
Blam (54) | ||
| 795808 | 2009-07-27 21:54:00 | Don't get a Sony. They break far too much! Toshiba or Asus are probably the two best brands, one of the Tosh's you mentioned would be great. justlaptops.net.nz If you want a smaller one, that is a beast and at a great price too. |
wratterus (105) | ||
| 795809 | 2009-07-28 09:08:00 | justlaptops.net.nz If you want a smaller one, that is a beast and at a great price too. That almost seems too good to be true... Is it a superceded model? |
R.M. (561) | ||
| 795810 | 2009-07-28 10:13:00 | Thanks for the links guys. Some interesting choices there. The Asus X83V looks intriguing. A couple of things still puzzle me though. There seems to be no identifiable pattern to CPU and GPU specs. Intel seem to be pushing Centrinos, Core2Duos, and then the various T and P numbers which I'm guessing are not Ghz or Mhz figures. Rather than wading through Intel's site for the answers, can anyone give me a straightforward guide to which processor ranks above which processor? While we're about it, some guidance on the GPU would be good too. I've worked out that Mobility HD 3000 series and 4000 series are Ati's mid and mid-high end series of chipsets, but how do they compare with regular desktop graphics, and how would they compare with, say, my 5 year-old desktop Radeon 9800Pro? And then looking at the Asus X83V, it seems to be running a Geforce 9300 - how does that compare with all the other graphics options? What would be the reasonable graphics requirements on a laptop to run FEAR2? Thanks Lizard |
Lizard (2409) | ||
| 795811 | 2009-07-28 11:34:00 | P series uses less power and has a higher fsb www.notebookcheck.net |
Blam (54) | ||
| 795812 | 2009-07-28 23:25:00 | That almost seems too good to be true... Is it a superceded model? Not sure? Either way, it's unbelievably cheap! If I bought it, I'd grab the 3 year Asus warranty too. |
wratterus (105) | ||
| 795813 | 2009-07-28 23:37:00 | How important is battery life to you? | somebody (208) | ||
| 795814 | 2009-07-29 07:35:00 | I guess it's moderately important. I can't envisage it being used in many locations where there won't be a power socket nearby, but as with a lot of these things, you never know. I poked around Tomshardware.com to try and ind some caprison charts for GPUs. There was some recent tests for desktop GPUs, but I couldn't find anything for mobile GPUs. Anyone know of a good, comprehensive site for such info? |
Lizard (2409) | ||
| 795815 | 2009-07-29 11:34:00 | I guess it's moderately important. I can't envisage it being used in many locations where there won't be a power socket nearby, but as with a lot of these things, you never know. You will get about 200% more PC in a desktop than in a laptop. (Or the same performance for 1/2 the price.) And you will have a keyboard rather than a substitute. |
R2x1 (4628) | ||
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